Effect of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) on spatial memory in rats (Rattus norvegicus)
Robert Hofstra, Noriyuki Koibuchi, Suthat Fucharoen in Advances in Biomolecular Medicine, 2017
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is a chemical commonly used as a flavor enhancer in food. MSG has been used in many countries including Indonesia, and has become a research topic in toxicopharmacology (Sukmaningsih et al., 2011; Rangan & Barceloux, 2009). MSG, when dissolved in water or saliva, dissociates into free salt and becomes the anion of glutamate (glutamic acid) (Sukmaningsih et al., 2011). Glutamate is also produced by the human body bound with other amino acids that make up the protein structure as well as those produced by neurons as a neurotransmitter. Glutamate is the major excitatory transmitter in the central nervous system of mammals. Glutamate is abundant in the cerebral cortex, hippocampal gyrus dentatus, and striatum, indicating that it plays an important role in cognitive functions including learning and memory (Setiawati, 2008).
Weaning: Why, When and What?
Frank Falkner in Infant and Child Nutrition Worldwide:, 2021
The addition of monosodium glutamate to infant foods has been widely debated. Early observations indicated that monosodium L-glutamate could produce defects in the retina, and could modify the structure of neurons of the nucleus arcuatus in the hypothalamus in newborn animals (Olney, 1969). Subsequent studies could not attribute any neurotoxic effect to monosodium glutamate given in different doses with food or drinking water to different animal species at various ages and under different experimental conditions (Garattini, 1979). No adverse reactions could be demonstrated in children (Filer et al., 1979; Salmona et al., 1980; Tung and Tung, 1979), and there is evidence that term and premature infants metabolize glutamate in the same way as adults. Glutamate is easily metabolized by the human infant without adverse effects when added to meals, even at high levels (150mg/kg). It was therefore concluded that glutamate was a safe food additive. However, the addition of glutamate to infant food products does not present any specific advantage, and since some transient side effects such as the “Chinese restaurant syndrome” may be attributed to glutamate, manufacturers have not incorporated glutamate in infant and “junior” foods since the end of 1969, and the National Academy of Science had recommended that it should not be added to infant food preparations (Food & Nutrition Board, 1970).
Chemophobia and the Boy Who Cried Wolf
David Lightsey in The Myths about Nutrition Science, 2019
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has had a long-standing undeserved poor reputation as a flavor enhancer. The compound itself is simply a combination of sodium and the naturally occurring amino acid L-glutamate, which is found in any food with protein, as well as naturally produced by our bodies. MSG is just the salt form of this amino acid, and a small fraction of the population may be sensitive to it. This may make the chemical problematic to a select few due to genetics, but it is irrelevant to most. After the consumption of MSG, the molecule is split into sodium and glutamate, both having well-established normal metabolic pathways. The glutamate segment is just a fraction of what one would normally consume daily in a typical diet and glutamate is a fuel source for the cells which line the digestive tract. The sodium segment of the molecule would be metabolized just like any other source of sodium from the diet. For additional safety information for MSG, I suggest the FDA’s “Questions and Answers on Monosodium Glutamate (MSG),” which can be found here: www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm328728.htm.
Berberine alleviates monosodium glutamate induced postnatal metabolic disorders associated vascular endothelial dysfunction in newborn rats: possible role of matrix metalloproteinase-1
Published in Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry, 2022
Abeer A. Abo Zeid, Ibrahim Rowida Raafat, Abeer G. Ahmed
Obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are worldwide public health problems that lead to an increased prevalence of vascular disorders (Fussenegger and Pietrobelli Widhalm 2008). Its pathophysiology is complicated and not yet completely elucidated. Overconsumption of dietary monosodium glutamate (MSG) is extending throughout the world especially between children and adolescent as a flavour enhancer in fast food and even in our kitchens as in chicken stock cubes. Excessive utilisation of food additive especially MSG results in metabolic disorders with typical characteristic features of MetS with increased cardiovascular diseases risk (Pelantová et al.2016). The endothelial cells (ECs) lining of blood vessels is damaged by pathogens and/or oxidative radicals leading to endothelial dysfunction and vascular inflammation which triggers leukocyte adhesion and transmigration into the vessel wall. As a result, extracellular matrix (ECM) regulatory peptidases such as matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) is expressed and activated in many different types of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) including atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, cardiac dysfunction (Amin et al.2016).
Patho-physiological and toxicological aspects of monosodium glutamate
Published in Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods, 2019
According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, studies to uncover MSG’s potential ill effects began in the late 1960s. At that time, some people began to believe that the additive in dishes they ate at Chinese restaurants made them sick. Since that time, scientists have looked and have not found a link between monosodium glutamate and cancer (Shi et al. 2004). Katherine Zeratsky, a registered and licensed dietitian with Mayo Clinic, says that people’s complaints about monosodium glutamate vary. Some say they develop headaches or nausea while others feel flushed after eating it. Accelerated heartbeat, chest pain, and weakness also are some of the reactions individuals associated with MSG. There are also those who say they begin to sweat or feel a certain pressure or numbness in the face when exposed to the food additive. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires manufacturers to indicate on the label that a product has MSG. Read the list of ingredients before buying canned and other processed goods. If you have a history of reacting to monosodium glutamate, do not buy anything that lists it as an ingredient.
Emerging drugs for the prevention of migraine
Published in Expert Opinion on Emerging Drugs, 2021
Oyindamola Ogunlaja, Nazia Karsan, Peter Goadsby
There is extensive evidence for the role of glutamate in migraine pathophysiology. Studies have shown increased plasma and CSF levels of glutamate ictally and interictally in migraine patients [84–87]. Increased salivary levels of glutamate have also been found in patients with episodic and chronic migraine [88,89]. Monosodium glutamate, the sodium salt of glutamic acid has been suggested to trigger headaches [90,91]. In terms of migraine and the group I metabotropic glutamate receptors – mGluR5 has undergone more investigation than mGluR1. mGluR5 is present in trigeminal sensory afferents [92], the trigeminal ganglion [93], and the TCC [94,95]. The receptor is known to be involved in central sensitization, hence creating hyperalgesia and allodynia [81,82,96]. A recent study [97] showed that mGluR5 may contribute to the central sensitization of chronic migraine through regulation of synaptic plasticity via protein kinase C/N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subtype 2B (NR2B) signaling, making it a potential therapeutic target for chronic migraine.
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